Pages 157-181
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157* · Winter B.S. 1960
Contents
- 1 Page 158
- 2 Page 159
- 3 Page 160
- 4 Page 161
- 5 Page 162
- 6 Page 163
- 7 Page 164
- 8 Page 165
- 9 Page 166
- 10 Page 167
- 11 Page 168
- 12 Page 169
- 13 Page 169
- 14 Page 170
- 15 Endnote 56
- 16 Page 170 (cont'd)
- 17 Endnote 57
- 18 Page 170 (cont'd)
- 19 Page 171
- 20 Page 172
- 21 Page 173
- 22 Page 174
- 23 Page 175
- 24 Page 176
- 25 Page 176
- 26 Page 177
- 27 Page 178
- 28 Page 179
- 29 Page 180
- 30 Page 181
- 31 Page 181
- 32 Page 182
- 33 Page 183
- 34 Page 184
- 35 Endnote 60
- 36 Page 184 (cont'd)
- 37 Page 185
- 38 Endnote 61
- 39 Page 185 (cont'd)
- 40 Page 186
- 41 Page 187
- 42 Page 188
- 43 Endnote 64
- 44 Page 189
- 45 Page 190
- 46 Page 191
- 47 Endnote 66
- 48 Page 191 (cont'd)
- 49 Page 192
- 50 Page 193
Page 158
swinishest
most swinish, i.e., most pig-like
sodding
a pejorative intensifier, chiefly British in usage
fingerling
something very small
the Beats
members of the Beat generation
Page 159
1956 Mercury Montclair
See right, though Incandenza's father's car is "bit-lip red."
nubbly
full of small protuberances
sinew
another word for tendon
parping
According to the OED, a parp is a honking sound; parping is defined as causing something (as a car horn) to parp.
Head is body. Incandenza's father is expressing a non-Cartesian point of view. René Descartes (1596-1650), the French polymath, separated the mind (res cogitans) from the body (res extensa).
rutilant bright red
Page 160
actuating putting into action
Nein? German: No?
tiller what turns the rudder to steer a boat
Page 161
pronator teres a muscle of the forearm
Page 162
whorled having whorls, i.e., coiled and spiral shapes
Page 163
flying sod He's referring to divots, i.e., bits of the fairway that get torn up when a golf ball is hit.
anal rage He's probably referring to anal-retentive rage, rather than rage specifically located in the anus.
Page 164
DeSotos a brand of automobile, examples of which can be seen here
hove past tense of heave
lox smoked salmon
gregariously in a sociable manner
Page 165
Himself Note that Incandenza's father calls his own father by the same nickname as Incandenza's children call him.
senza errori Italian: Without errors
veldt From Afrikaans, this is a word for an open field with grass, bushes, etc.
deft quick and skillful
President here referring to Franklin Roosevelt
lattice This is "a structure of crossed wooden or metal strips usually arranged to form a diagonal pattern of open spaces between the strips" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).
Page 166
Page 167
Bisbee a city of Arizona, 82 miles south of Tuscon
Dean probably referring to James Dean
Page 168
inertia absence of motion
scabrous having a rough surface because of minute points or projections
mortified having undergone mortification of the flesh, i.e., abuse of the body by one's self as a form of penance
USC the University of Southern California
Avalon probably Frankie Avalon
Page 169
169 · Pemulis Scores DMZ
Page 169
Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Latinate suggestive in style of the ancient Romans
Inman Square a square in Cambridge named for colonial merchant Ralph Inman
Brioni a high-fashion clothes company
Mr. Howell Gilligan's Island character Thurston J. Howell, III
rakish jaunty or dashing
Page 170
oxfords formal shoes with laces
nacelle the enclosed part of an airplane, where the engine is housed
DMZ Most commonly, this acronym stands for "demilitarized zone," as in the area between North and South Korea. Here it is a made-up drug name.
MED.COM not a real Web site
mescaline Mescaline is the active ingredient in peyote.
TMA an acronym for trimethoxyamphetamine
DOM or STP STP stands for "serenity, tranquity, and peace," and it's a pseudonym for DOM, which stands for dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine.
DMT acronym for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine dimethyltryptamine
Ololiuqui or datura's scopolamine, or Fluothane, or Bufotenine (a.k.a. 'Jackie-O.'), or Ebene Ololiuqui is a type of morning glory plants, the seeds of which are known to be hallucinogenic. Datura's scopolamine is another name for hyoscine. Fluothane is an inhaled general anesthetic. Bufotenine is an alternate spelling of bufotenin and is the active ingredient in the skin of toads that cause hallucinations when licked. (I have no idea why it's called "Jackie-O.") Ebene is a South American tree that yields a hallucinogen used in rituals.
Endnote 56
PMA acronym for [paramethoxyamphetamine paramethoxyamphetamine]
myristicin Found in nutmeg, it does not have hallucinogenic properties.
ergine Also called LSA, it's found in morning glory seeds
ibogaine Found in varieties of dogbane, it is a drug used to ease heroin withdrawal.
yagé's harmaline Yagé is the native name for banisteria. Harmaline is the active ingredient.
fitviavi apparently a coined word
Page 170 (cont'd)
Endnote 57
Tibetan-Dead-Book better known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead
Futurist referring to Italian Futurism, an art movement on the early 20th century
Page 170 (cont'd)
chemist at Sandoz Pharm. This would be Albert Hoffman (born 1906), a Swiss scientist best known for first synthesizing LSD.
Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (1915-1973) was a British-born philosopher and writer in the field of comparative religion.
T. Leary Timothy Francis Leary (1920-1996) was an American writer and psychologist best known as an advocate for regular LSD use.
Millbrook NY a town in New York state, about 90 miles north of New York City
WYYY actually a radio station in Syracuse, New York
Page 171
Riverside Hamlet The Riverside Shakespeare is one of the better-known editions of Shakespeare's work. Note that Hal, who is based on the character Hamlet, is reading Hamlet.
Consummation of the Levirates A levirate is a man called up to marry his elder brother's childless widow, in accordance with Jewish Law.
Baron's a deliberate (probably) misspelling of Barron's
Tilden on Spin The book by William Tatem "Big Bill" Tilden II (1893-1953), American tennis giant, is actually entitled Match Play and the Spin of the Ball.
172 · TENNIS AND THE FERAL PRODIGY
Page 172
Page 173
stevedore a person who loads and unloads cargo from boats
40 km. almost 25 miles
Schnell German: Quickly
Page 174
formants and fricatives, trochaically stressed A format is, according to Wikipedia, "a peak in an acoustic frequency spectrum which results from the resonant frequencies of any acoustic system." A fricative is a phoneme produced by forcing air through tight lips. In English, fricatives are /s/, /z/, /th/, and /zh/. Trochaically means spoken in trochees, or a metrical foot on two syllables with the stress on the first (the word "trochee" is a trochee).
aperture An aperture is an opening; here it is probably referring to the anus.
Page 175
8 1/2 a film by Federico Fellini
intensile incapable of being stretched
Page 176
Noxzema a skin cleaner marketed by Procter & Gamble
Contracol not a drug currently marketed in the U.S.
Epsom salts Magnesium sulfate, used to relieve pain, among other uses.
176 · Selected Transcripts
Page 176
Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Page 177
Higher Power Most twelve-step drug or alcohol recovery programs teach a belief in God or a "Higher Power" (the latter to soften the blow to atheists).
Kemp and Limbaugh Jack French Kemp, Jr. (born 1935), is a conservative American politician, former member of the House of Representative, former Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, and 1996 candidate for Vice President.
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (born 1951) is a conservative radio talk-show host.
formicate to crawl like ants
Page 178
magnaminously a (probably deliberate) misspelling of "magnanimously," i.e., generously
the Fenway the Fenway-Kenmore section of Boston
Page 179
septum more specifically, the nasal septum
harelip also known as cleft lip or cleft palate
doocy I have no idea
Page 180
2% proof Redundant because "proof" is an expression of alcohol content. Doubling the alcohol percentage gives you proof, i.e., 2% alcohol is 4 proof.
Page 181
181* · Madame Psychosis on the Radio
Page 181
Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Madame Psychosis not just a byname for DMZ, but also a radio show host
Page 182
particidal having a tendency to kill one's father
entomologist a person who studies insects scientifically
sephenoid a misspelling for sphenoid
Infundibular having the form of a funnel
epiglottal having to do with the epiglottis
Hillel a nationwide (worldwide?) Jewish student union present on several campuses
corpus callosum the part of the brain connecting the left and right hemispheres
larygeally fissured having ridges like the human larynx
work-study receiving funding from the university in exchange for work rendered to the university
Page 183
chiffon a lightweight, balanced, plain-woven fabric
limned To limn means to describe
parietal referring to the parietal lobe of the brain, responsible for sensory memory and response
pop Midwesterners in the U.S. use this word to denote what others call "soda," i.e., Coca-Cola, 7-Up, etc.
Dow a pun on the Chinese word tao, ("the way") and the Dow Jones Industrial Average
gasper cigarette
E.S.T. Eastern Standard Time
medulla literally that part of the brain responsible for autonomic functions like heartbeat, organ activity, etc.
Page 184
I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei (born 1917) is a Chinese-born American architect who designed, among other famous buildings, MIT's Green Building.
Endnote 60
J. A. Stratton Julius Adams Stratton (1901-1994) was an American educator and president of MIT between 1959 and 1965.
Page 184 (cont'd)
cerebral cortex that part of the brain responsible for higher-order thinking
"...what she's said for three years of midnights..." Up until 'Look at that fucker Dance,' the rest of her introduction is from Genesis 1.
Largest Whole Prime On The FM Band 109 is a prime number, i.e., divisible only by itself and by 1. Actually the highest number you can get on FM is 108, and there are no whole numbers in FM radio in the U.S.
EM probably denoting "electromagnetic"
centrifugal that force in a spinning object that tends to push away objects from the angle of rotation
Hundt Act Reed E. Hundt (born 1948) was chairman of the Federal Communications Committee in 1996, when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed. Wallace may be riffing on that, as it appears there was no equivalent legislation in 1966.
spatter's center The spatter referred to here is probably the small amount of FM bands that can be sent out.
inelastic When used with regard to demand, this term means tending not to change.
3-km. cannon The range is about 1.86 miles.
P.E. Physical Education
Philology The love of language, the term is also used to describe the study of literature.
Page 185
hypogonadism lack of function of the ovaries or testicles
Nodular leprosy with leonine facies a form of leprosy that generates lesions made of nodes and that produces lion-like facial expressions (i.e., "leonine facies")
The acromegalic and hyperkeratosistic. The enuretic. Arcomegaly is a disorder of the pituitary gland whereby it produces too much human growth hormone, resulting in giantism. Hyperkeratosistic means that one is suffering from hyperkeratosis. Enuresis is the inability to urinate.
The spasmodically torticollic. having a head tilted to one side (torticollis) involving convulsions (spasmodic)
G.S.L. Guaranteed Student Loan
treillage latticework
interneural between nerves
semitic ideograms Semitic languages actually tend to be written uses alphabets, where a symbol denotes a phoneme, rather than in ideograms, like Chinese and Korean are. The oldest alphabet is the Phoenician, which was Semitic.0
rostral lamina in biology, a beaklike or snoutlike (rostral) layer of tissue (lamina)
neuroform Neuroform is actually the brand-name of a type of stent.
S.O.P. Standard Operating Procedure
neorealist adhering to Italian neorealism
Peterson/Broughton and Dali/Buñuel Sidney Peterson and James Broughton collaborated on The Potted Psalm (1946), an experimental film.
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol (1904-1989) and Luis Buñuel Portolés (1900-1983) were both Spanish artists. They collaborated on Un chien andalou (An Andalusian Dog, 1929), another experimental film.
Deren/Hammid Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid codirected Meshes of the Afternoon
Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007) was an Italian filmmaker probably most famous for Blowup.
Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (1932-1986) was a Soviet-Russian filmmaker.
Sometimes Ozu and Bresson Yasujirō Ozu (1903-1963) was a Japanese filmmaker. Robert Bresson (1901-1999) was a French filmmaker.
hoary dramaturgy According to Wikipedia, dramaturgy is "the art of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage." To call it "hoary" would be to imply it's old.
Sir Herbert Tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852-1917) was a British actor and manager. You can hear his performances of Hamlet here.
Kaelesque In the style of Pauline Kael (1919-2001), an American film critic for New Yorker magazine.
De Palma, Tarantino Brian De Palma and Quentin Tarantino
Endnote 61
dissociative formalism presumably formalism that focuses too much on form and not enough on character and other aspects of filmmaking
Stan Brakhage and Hollis Frampton Stan Brakhage (1933-2003) and Hollis Frampton (1936-1984) were American avant-garde filmmakers.
Beth B. You can read about here here.
the Snow brothers, Vigdis Simpson One of the Snow brothers would have to be Michael Snow (born 1929), a Canadian-American filmmaker, principally known for Wavelength. Vigdis Simpson seems created.
Page 185 (cont'd)
Brutalism, Found Drama Brutalism may refer to brutalist architecture. Found Drama is the cinematic extension of Found Art.
dissonant inharmonious with other things (here, aspects of Madame Psychosis's taste)
Page 186
Baraka Imamu Amiri Baraka (born Everett LeRoi Jones, 1934) is an African-American poet, playwright, author, and political activist.
piamater actually two words: Pia mater
sulci plural of "sulcus," a furrow or groove, particularly between sections of the brain
A.Y. ('V.F.') Rickey's summum opus V. Frederick Rickey is a prominent mathematician. I don't know who A.Y. Rickey is/was, but it is notable that there is, in fact, no Student Union building at MIT.
Summum opus would be a "great work" while magnum opus would be the "best work."
parietooccipital referring to both the parietal lobe of the brain, as well as the occipital lobe, which is where vision is processed
Pons and abducent The Pons is a structure on the brain stem, while the abducens nerve is a nerve in the muscles of the eye.
basilar-stem artery a stem of an artery that carries blood to the brain
oblongata the second half of the full name of the medulla
Page 187
FHC acronym for "fluorohydrocarbon," this is a type of fluroplastic, known to give off poisonous fumes
Heathkit The company's Web site is here.
10ºC fifty degrees Fahrenheit
five m. almost 16.5 feet
vascularly hued colored like a blood vessel
mercuric employing the element mercury
wooferless lacking the larger speaker (i.e., the "woofer") found in multi-speaker systems
saddle-noses noses having a collapsed nasal bridge
atrophic shrinking in size
Scleredema adultorum a disease characterized by non-pitting induration of the skin
serodermatotic suffering from serodermatosis, a skin disease with serous effusion into the skin
hydrocephalic having water on the brain
tabescent and chachetic Tabescent refers to a person with tabes dorsalis, and chachetic (probably misspelled) apparently refers to a person with cachexia.
Brag's-Diseased This would seem to be a type of glioma, though it is mentioned almost nowhere.
carbuncular or steatocryptotic Carbuncular means "pimply," while steatocryptotic refers to a person suffering from steatocryptosis, which is derangement of the sebaceous glands.
Marin-Amat Syndrome This is involuntary closure on one eye, named for Manuel Marin Amat, an early 20th century Spanish ophthalmologist.
scrofulodermic suffering from cutaneous tuberculosis
Bell-shaped steatopygiacs A steatopygiac is a person suffering from steatopygia; if you're bell-shaped, it just means the fat is closer to the bottom than the top
Pityriasis Rosea a skin disease marked by patches of pink, oval rash
"Blessed are the poor in body, for they." This is not one of the Beatitudes.
U.H.I.D. This is a bona fide acronym for "Universal Health Identifier," though it's doubtful this is what Wallace means. A HID is a "Human Interface Device"; U could stand for "university" or "universal" or something else entirely. Ah, what he means: Union of Hideous and Improbably Deformed
probability waves for subhadronics Probability waves are a concept in quantum physics that expresses the probability that "a particle or particles in a particular state will be measured to have a given position and momentum" (Wikipedia). Subhadronic refers to a particle smaller than a hadron.
Page 188
Radcliffe's Bunting Institute Radcliffe is the women's college at Harvard University. According to the Harvard Web site, "The Bunting Institute is a mutidisciplinary center for women scholars, writers, artists, and activists of demonstrated achievement and promise. Each year, approximately 40 women pursue projects that make significant contributions to their fields, working in a community that fosters interdisciplinary discourse, and creative and intellectual leadership. Some describe their experience as "the Bunting transformation."
L.A.S. tradition Liberal Arts and Sciences
Endnote 64
Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1709-1784), was a British poet, essayist, novelist, literary critic, and lexicographer.
Beesley Patricia Beesley, an early 20th century American educator who did author the book named.
cornup3.COM There is no such Web site.
mens-sana pedagogy "healthy-mind" teaching
ad valorem Latin: by value
corpore potis Latin: able of body
Thorp's Trigonometry of Cubes Edward Oakley Thorp (born 1932) is an American mathematician, but he seems not to have created a "trigonometry of cubes," which would be, frankly, impossible.
aphotic to apochromatic Aphotic means without light, while apochromatic means developing color.
Best Boy a member of a film crew, assistant to either the gaffer or key grip
Cambridgeport an area of Cambridge, Mass.
Page 189
leukodermatic white-skinned
xanthodantic misspelling of xanthodontic, which means yellow-toothed
basilisk-breathed and pyorrheic A basilisk is a type of dragon, and pyorrhea is the condition of having gum disease.
Page 190
peronic or teratoidal Peronic means having a bent penis, while teratoidal means malformed.
prenologically malformed malformed in the shape of the skull
supuratively lesioned having lesions that ooze pus
acervulus-nosed having blisters on the nose
radically -ectomied -having to do with body-part removal (think radical mastectomy)
diaphoretic perspiring
granulomatous having masses of ulcerated infections of the skin
lazarettes and oubliettes A lazarette is a hospital that treats infectious diseases, while an oubliette is a dungeon accessible only by trapdoor.
kyphotic and lordotic Kyphotic means having abnormal rear curvature of the spine (i.e., hunchbacked), while lordotic having abnormal forward curvature of the spine.
cellulitic fat
fatally pulchritudinous deadly good-looking
Actaeonizing turning into a deer; growing horns
Medusoid looking like a gorgon
papuled, the macular, the albinic Papules are inflammatory elevations of the skin. Macular means having opaque spots on the cornea. Albinic is having no melanin.
odalisques a concubine or slave in a harem
ital italics, used for emphasis
crosiers a crosier is a type of French roll
lager a type of beer, medium in darkness
vin blanc French: white wine
Page 191
Good Morning, Midnight and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Giovanni's Room and Under the Volcano Good Morning, Midnight is a novel by Jean Rhys (1890-1979), born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, a Caribbean novelist, on the topic of a woman forced to confront her own loneliness and despair. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is a novel by Stephen Crane (1871-1900), an American novelist, on the topic of a child prostitute. Giovanni's Room by African-American expatriate author James Arthur Baldwin (1924-1987) is a novel on the topic of a young man coming to terms with his homosexuality. Under the Volcano is a novel by Malcolm Lowry (1909-1957), a British writer, on the topic of alcoholism.
Bret Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born 1965) is an American novelist probably best known for Less Than Zero (1985), about a drug addict who turns to prostitution, and American Psycho (1991), about a serial killer.
van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) was a German-born American architect.
Endnote 66
R.E.M. and Pearl Jam R.E.M.'s lead singer, Michael Stipe, was famous for his unintelligible lyrics until around 1987's Document. Pearl Jam's vocalist, Eddie Vedder, is as cryptic now as he was fifteen years ago, when they released their first record.
Page 191 (cont'd)
wall- and cross-eyed To be wall-eyed is to suffer from exotropia, which is a form of ocular paralysis in which one or both eyes turn outward.
ergotic of St. Anthony An old name for ergot poisoning is "St. Anthony's fire," which is ergot poisoning. However, given the context, Wallace may be referring here to shingles.
varicelliformally eruptive a type of eczema due to herpes.
sarcoma'd of Kaposi Karposi's sarcoma is a usually benign skin cancer common in elderly Mediterranean men that has become the most easily identifiable visible symptom of AIDS.
M. Hamilton as Oz's West Witch Referring to The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West (and East) was played by Margaret Hamilton.
Page 192
RCA-Victorish The image can be seen to the right.
snaggle-toothed having a broken or projecting tooth
wattled having flesh hanging from one's chin, like a turkey
lycanthropically in a way suggesting a werewolf
Tourettic suffering from Tourette's syndrome
teratoid resembling a monster
halitotic having bad breath
saurian- and equine-looking looking like a lizard or horse, respectively
invaginate sheathed
Cushing's Disease Named for Harvey Williams Cushing (1869-1939), an American neurologist, this disease is an endocrine disorder resulting in rapid weight gain, sweating, thinning of skin, and other negative side effects.
Rhinoplasty nose job
subdural below the dura mater in the skull
Page 193
les bâtiments sanctifíes French: the holy buildings
Metropolis a 1927 film directed by Fritz Lang